Sunday Independent editor Steven Motale has taken a decision not to leak pictures and videos in his possession of one of the women who is alleged to have had a relationship with deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa.

Sunday Independent editor Steven Motale has taken a decision not to leak pictures and videos in his possession of one of the women who is alleged to have had a relationship with deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa.Picture FILE

The deputy president was the theme of the paper’s article published two weeks ago‚ alleging that he was involved in a number of extramarital affairs. He has strongly denied the claim‚ only admitting to one affair which he had eight years ago.

“Her lawyers wrote to us demanding on her behalf to make an undertaking that we will never‚ in all our official articles‚ use the videos in our possession. We didn’t have a problem with that so we are not contesting [the application]. However‚ all material in our possession except for video and pictures‚ we are still going to use … we won’t barge on that‚” said Motale.

He was speaking at the Johannesburg High Court shortly after the application brought by one of the women who is alleged to have had a relationship with the deputy president.

The woman‚ whose name is known by TimesLIVE‚ brought an application to court on Monday to interdict the online publication Weekly Xposé – owned by business tycoon Thapelo Kenny Kunene – from publishing the videos on its site.

The controversial businessman published an article last Monday containing the name and pornographic videos of one of the women. However‚ Ramaphosa is not in the videos.

Kunene said he could not comment on the nature of the editorial decision taken to publish the media files.

“I don’t want to go into the details of the case yet. We believe that this matter is not urgent and we have reasons that we have set out. We believe that it is in the interest of the public that these videos be left on the website‚ Weekly Xposé‚” said Kunene.

“We have done our bit because we blurred them out of respect‚ but at the end of the day as you may well know‚ people want proof‚” added Kunene.

The deputy president told Sunday Times two weeks ago that he believed state resources were being used to orchestrate a political smear campaign to stop him from contesting the ANC leadership in December.

Attorney Nomaswazi Maseko‚ representing the applicant‚ said that the woman has since been embarrassed by people approaching her in the public domain.

“We are here on an urgent basis to try and prevent people viewing this video on Weekly Xposé. What we are alleging is that she is identifiable and she’s been approached by people that she doesn’t know who say: ‘Oh you are the porn star’‚” said Maseko.

Judge Raylene Keightley has requested the media not to broadcast the proceedings on Wednesday when the matter will be heard.

Send your pictures to Daily Dispatch, PO Box 131, East London, 5200 or deliver it to Daily Dispatch, Corner St Helena Road and Quenera Drive, Beacon Bay, East London.
Include a contact number, the full names of the people in the picture and the venue. When e-mailing your photo to weddings@dispatch.co.za, use a resolution of 150dpi so that it can be enlarged.
*The Daily Dispatch does not charge for the inclusion of your wedding photograph in our publication. The Daily Dispatch reserves the right to publish or discard pictures.

POPULAR CATEGORY

THE Daily Dispatch newspaper has a long and rich history dating back to 1872. It was the first penny daily newspaper published in the Eastern Cape in 1898. By 1906 the paper boasted a circulation larger and more widely distributed than any colonial paper published outside Cape Town. In its centenary it became the first newspaper in SA to offer full colour facilities to its advertisers and readers. Dispatch has also always been at the forefront of exposing injustice in its region and advocating fair treatment for all South Africans.